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Modi in Chhattisgarh
A lesser known aspect of the communal riots in the immediate aftermath of the 1947 partition is the role of the Jesuits, Lutherans and myriad other Christian evangelists in the tribal heartland of India. Sensing a leadership vacuum due to the Hindu-Muslim conflict, many of the Christian missionaries working in...
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The Andhra Satavahanas
The Mauryan Emperor Brihadratha slowly walked across the lines of the army, with a pleasant smile and confident swagger. It was a routine army review. Just like the many he has supervised over the years. As he walked forward, he suddenly looked back in simmering anger at the guard who...
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World on Wednesdays by Deepak Singh
World on Wednesday is a new initiative by CRI. This series will contain audio blogs which will be scheduled every Wednesday. Deepak Singh, a market analyst and political watcher, will present the show. In today’s episode Deepak Singh taks with CRI Editor Prasanna and social media commentator RealistIndian on the...
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Tarek Fatah, Jamia Millia Islamia and Rising Islamofascism
Tarek Fatah in his own words is “an Indian born in Pakistan who is a Canadian citizen”. He is a Canadian writer, broadcaster and a secular Muslim anti-Islamist activist. He was associated with the left movement of Pakistan and has the dubious honour of being jailed by every dictator of...
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Can a Rs 100 Crore Campaign Change the Writing on the (Facebook) Wall?
Of late, a certain kind of seemingly sophisticated critique of social media is becoming a recurring theme in “mainstream” media. A gist of it is as below. The rightwing (being clever and cunning) knew that social media was someday going to come into prominence. It positioned its activists strategically in...
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To Zahir Janmohamed
Dear Zahir I have been one of your avid readers over the last few months. Let me express my unadulterated admiration for the style of your exposition, which becomes all the more engaging as you compellingly use the personal anecdotes that you acquired during your Gujarat sojourn. More importantly, though,...
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The Right People – Episode 7 : Shailesh Pandey
The Right People podcast series initiated by Centre Right India to highlight people who are not politicians or involved closely with professional politics. CRI talks to those who identify with centre-right politics from across the vast Right framework – economic right-wingers, libertarians, traditionalists, Swadeshi right, etc. Undoubtedly, these groups bicker much among themselves and...
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Shattered Society
In February 2009, British philosopher Phillip Blond’s essay “Rise of the Red Tories,” published in London’s Prospect magazine, sparked a transatlantic discussion about the failure of politics, both Left and Right, to address our most pressing social problems. “We are a bipolar nation,” he wrote, “a bureaucratic, centralized state that presides dysfunctionally...
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How Social Darwinism Made Modern China
During the three decades following Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 reforms, China achieved the fastest sustained rate of economic growth in human history, with the resulting 40-fold rise in the size of China’s economy leaving it poised to surpass America’s as the largest in the world. A billion ordinary Han Chinese have...
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Delhi-Noida Toll Bridge- Loot in the name of Public-Private Partnerships
Toll rates for the 22-km Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway were increased from 1st April by the Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL). Two wheelers toll rates have been increased from Rs 11 to Rs 12, for cars from Rs 22 to Rs 25, LCVs from Rs 45 to Rs 55,...
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From a Maa and a Behan
Modi’s speech at FICCI irked many feminists who were outraging against the use of Maa or Behan as ways to address women. This is the usual feminist modus operandi of never indulging with realities but going after straw-men like “stereotyping” and “patronizing” – an attitude that smacks of a deep...
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Orient and Occident – I
In the recent years we (many people I came across) have been looking for a work that brings about the foundational differences in the societies of East and West, their knowledge, culture and philosophies. At the most fundamental level, namely worldview and framework, seers like Sri Aurobindo had articulated the...
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The Curious case of Gujarat Lokayukta
The appointment of Gujarat’s Lokayukta has seen several dramatic developments. The latest is the passage of the Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog Bill, 2013 that redefines the process of selecting the state’s Lokayukta. Coming as it does in the wake of a series of court battles, the government’s critics have charged it...
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The Philosopher Prince and His Speechwriters
Having ghost written speeches for a cross-section of “leaders” in Indian business and government, I can attest that it’s a mug’s game. The brief, if you get really lucky, is a one-liner. Normal service for a speechwriter is something like this: ‘Hola LatAm! India-Nicaragua Partnership’. Two-sodding-thousand words on India’s friendship...